Skyline 2
by TheMenace3117
Summary: Sequel to Skyline. After they give the Chaos Emeralds back to Sonic, Skyline must fight as a team without any help. And they're gonna have to fight as hard as they ever have this time. A Mad Man named Miles is gunning to completely erase Skyline. He is smarter, tougher and brings a crew just as cunning as him. Mind tricks, road blocks and destruction lie ahead for Skyline.
1. Chapter 1

Less than 2 weeks after Team Skyline recruited their forth member Marcus, they stayed together in the Raccoon's large house on the edge of town, given to him by his now deceased uncle. The team strives to stay at their level of strength and team work, however, after the clash with the biggest underground gang leader, crime has been put to an all time low, making no need for the team to come out and help. The police still label the team "Just another gang" but everyone knows them as the vigilantes against gang violence. Tails and Cream's relationship is still going strong, Espio sticks to his drinking, and Marcus is slowly starting to learn how to be a "Team player" in terms of coordination. While Tails, Cream and Espio are very skilled in team work, Marcus isn't as adapt, but he makes up for it as he is the team's heavy hitter. Being the biggest in weight, and strongest, Marcus takes care of the heavy lifting and close combat part of the action. The Raccoon was given the nickname "Tank" by Tails, respectively. But now, it's slow going for Skyline and they patiently wait for a sign of danger in the city of Two Gates.

**Marcus POV**

When the guys asked me to join the team, I was thinking of telling them no, probably because I'm used to doing things alone. After my older brother was killed, I slowly distanced myself from the gang life. I was never as big as my brother, he was taller and stronger, where I was just tall and skinny. I got beat up bad one time, so I decided to lift weights and make myself stronger. I didn't notice a difference at first, but after a year or so I noticed it. Soon, every street gang wanted me to be their back up, and even my brother was starting to get intimidated.

Team work isn't one of my strengths, rushing in and swinging at everyone around is more like it. For awhile I was stuck thinking the days of loyalty were gone and everyone just wanted to make a quick buck, until Tails and Cream saved me from my old street gang. They showed me what true loyalty is, and now I'm on the "good" side, at least that's how I see it. I could care less about money or running the city, I have friends who actually give a shit about me, and will stand up against the power hungry. That's why I joined Skyline.

Tails, Cream and Marcus sit in the living room of the Raccoon's house watching the News on a giant flat screen TV mounted on the wall. No stories catch their attention, and just like everyday they wait for a report of any crime going on, but nothing is announced. Espio stands in the backyard practicing various high spinning kick on tree branches, making a mess of wood and leaves around the grassy yard. Tails joins the chameleon outside, makes his way into the air and sits on the highest branch on the tree. The sun goes down, ending another uneventful day. Espio puts on his over the shoulder strap bag and stuffs it full of liquor bottles.

"I'm going to the bar, call me if theres-" Espio hesitates "If theres ANY sign of trouble, doubt it but whatever.."

Tails sighs and nods, still gazing at the sun set over the ocean. Espio makes his way into town via the highway, and bike trails. Marcus' house is in a very secluded area from the city, and hard to find if no one has every been to the place. Cream leaves Marcus in the living room and he shuts off his TV.

Loud rock music plays throughout the second level bar Espio is at, he sits at the window looking out at the rainy city street. The door opens and everyone standing in the way backs up one by one. Espio doesn't notice a thing as he's sipping on a drink and eating a cheese burger from the bar's grill. He does see someone point to him out of the corner of his eye, but he keeps his cool. He hears a few girls say his name, and loud footsteps draw closer to him. he puts his burger down and grabs his bottle. The footsteps stop right beside his chair, and Espio takes one last drink of his beer, then sets the bottle down.

"So who's looking for me this time?" Espio asks, still looking at his bottle

"One of your old buddies, ninja" It' a familiar voice

Back at the house, Marcus turns on his stereo and an alternative rock station comes on. Tails sits at a large dining room table with a deck of cards and Marcus sits down. Cream sits in her and Tails' room watching a smaller flat screen TV with Cheese at her side. The fox shuffles the deck of cards and throws Marcus his deck. The two sit opposite from each other playing 21 to kill some time. Half way through their game, the back gate opens, which gets their attention because everyone enters through the front. Tails and Marcus get to the back door and shine a flash light.

"Don't shoot, guys. I brought a guest" Espio says as he walks to the patio.

Tails gets a look at Espio's "Guest" and immediately knows who it is just by his appearance.

"Sonic?"

Later that night, everyone is seated in the dining room at the table, catching up with the blue hedgehog. Sonic declines to have a few beers, and reveals why he came to see Skyline.

"So, there's a bit of a problem going on back home, guys. Eggman has no clue where the chaos emeralds are, and neither did we.. but after some thought, we knew where they all went" Sonic coughs

"You sick?" Espio asks

"Just a bit. Guys, I'm gonna be straight forward with you.. I came here because I need the chaos emeralds back"

Tails and Espio look at each other, not saying a word. Cream waits for someone to answer, but no one says a word. Sonic chuckles to himself, then coughs.

"I know what it's like having the power of the chaos emeralds, it's awesome, not gonna lie. But you guys don't need them to be a great team. I'm not saying this just cause I want the emeralds, I mean this. The emeralds only give out so much power to the ones using them before it stops working. Eggman's got something big going on and I have to stop him, but I need the chaos emeralds"

After about a minute of hesitation, Tails sighs and stands up.

"Alright man. there in the basement" Tails signals Sonic to come

The two go to the basement, leaving Cream, Marcus and Espio upstairs. Tails turns on a light and starts the conversation.

"So, how's everyone doing down there?" Tails goes down the wooden stairs first

"Everyone's fine. We miss you guys down there, it'd be cool to have a visit sometime" Sonic follows down the steps.

"Sometime, Sonic" The fox opens a crate and pulls out a bag with all seven chaos emeralds inside "Things here haven't been to eventful so maybe soon"

"Criminals come and go. I'm sure you guys are gonna get some action sometime" Sonic takes the bag

The two make their way upstairs and back into the dining room. After another hour of talking, Sonic decides to get going. Just as he opens the front door, Tails stops Sonic.

"How'd you know where to find us?"

"Heard Espio was a drinker, and you guys made the front page of the paper last week" Sonic replies.

Tails grins, and the two fist pound, then Sonic takes off. Tails closes the door, and sits down with everyone.

"So what now?" Marcus asks

"What do mean?" Tails asks

"I think he means now that we don't have the emeralds, what do we do now?" Espio adds

"We keep going as a team, like Sonic said. We don't need them to be Skyline" Cream says

"Yeah, well they made things a lot easier" The raccoon replies

"Being a team was never gonna be easy. And now we really need to work together and fight harder to keep going" Tails says

Espio leaves first, then Marcus heads to his room, leaving Tails and Cream in the dining room. Right around midnight, they start to head to bed, until the News reports a bank machine theft, car thefts, arson, and assault on a police officer, each one has gang members involved. Tails is the first to hear it, then runs to the TV to see the news.

"Guys! we're back in business!" Tails calls to his friends.

Cream comes downstairs and joins Tails first while Espio and Marcus complain about being woken but soon make their way to the living room.

"Alright guys, We each take one of the four crimes. Espio, you got the car jackers, Cream you take the arsonists, Marcus gets the kids who took the bank machine and I'll take the ones who jumped the cop. Lets move!"

The team races to the city where sirens from every corner are going off and cars are zooming through the streets. Cream sees smoke rising from the far north end so she splits from the group. Espio and Marcus go opposite ways and Tails goes into the sky. Tails lands on the 30th floor of a skyscraper and looks on at the city. Espio sees cops chasing two muscle cars so he races after them. Cream gets to the burning building and hears terrified screams inside the building so she goes in. Marcus spots a bank machine being dragged on the road by a blue truck. Tails looks down and sees an ambulance and paramedics putting a cop inside. Tails looks all around that area and sees 5 gang members running a few blocks away. The fox jumps off the skyscraper and hovers above the gang. He lands in front of them and they all stop.

Cream kicks a door down and covers her mouth with her jacket as she runs in and grabs two young hedgehogs. She flies out of the building and down to the ground and the kids run to their mother. Marcus follows the truck until it stops at an underground parking garage. He catches up and just before the garage door shuts, he lifts it up and gets inside. The driver runs at him with a wrench but Marcus takes him out fast. The raccoon drags the bank machine outside to the side walk and runs into the shadows as cops surround the garage.

One of the stolen muscle cars splits up from the other and ditches cops, but Espio is right on his tail. It stops to blend in with normal traffic, so Espio rushes up and pulls the driver out. pedestrians pull out their phones and start videoing the incident, and Espio knocks out the driver. He takes off, and police get to the muscle car and arrest the driver. Tails stands in front of 5 gang members in all black and red colours.

"Think your tough, jumping on a cop when he's not looking?" Tails asks, irritating the street gang "Jump me"

Tails gets ready to fight, and the gang circles him. The fox flies up just as a thug tries to attack him fro behind, and he picks up the smallest member. He throws this kid 15 feet away and makes it 4 on 1. He knows he doesn't stand a chance trying to fight their way, so he out smarts the gang. Tails dodges punches and tires them out, waiting for the right time to strike. The gang stops abruptly and runs away.

"Ha, didn't think so!" Tails yells to them.

Tails could feel someone behind him, so he turns around. He sees a male fox who looks identical to him, but with a scar on his left cheek and different clothes. The two stare at each other, then the mysterious fox speaks.

"What's up, Prower?" This fox has a deeper, menacing voice

"What is this, halloween?" Tails says sarcastically

"Not tonight, that's not for another 4 months"

"Then what's with the look? You look a little bit like a certain ass kicking fox I know"

"You like to compliment yourself, don't ya? I'm not trying to be anything like that stupid, fail of a hero"

"Harsh, man. Your hurting my feelings" Tails keeps his eye on this fox "You got a name, or should I call you Generic fox No.1?"

"My name is Miles. And I'm not trying to hurt your feelings"

Miles punches Tails in the face, knocking him back "I'm trying to hurt you!"

Tails goes for a kick but it's blocked and he takes several punches. He backs up and tries to punch at the other fox but his hand is caught and he takes 3 kicks to the gut, which drops him to one knee. Miles lifts his leg up and drops it, connecting an axe kick to Tails head, then kicks him in the face one more time. Tails is laid out, bleeding from his nose as Miles wipes blood from his steel toed boot.

"Your weak, how could you be the big hero of this city?" Miles taunts, kicking at the downed fox

Tails gets to one knee and uses Miles' jacket to slowly get up. Miles puts his hand around Tails' throat and starts to choke him. Tails struggles, punching at the fox, but miles doesn't let up. The street gang comes back and circle around the two foxes. Tails eyes start to turn red from choking and he gets light headed. With every punch, Miles' grip gets tighter and stronger, almost like an anaconda. Tails grip goes limp and his vision goes blurry, then he starts to black out. The last thing he sees is Miles start laughing then one last punch.

Tails goes into dream land and sees events from years ago, a battle with team dark appears and Tails is watching himself flying around Shadow. Sonic fights the black hedgehog and Knuckles calls to Tails. The battle starts to fade out, except Tails who is left in a white area. _This is all just a dream, Prower_, Tails tries to tell himself. The fox is interrupted as he sees Eggman inside a massive robot shooting missiles at Team Sonic, then the group smashes into the robot and destroy it. _Come on, Wake up Prower!_ Tails tries his best to wake himself up, but he's stuck in dreamland. Another fade out, this time Tails ends up in a field of half dead plants and the sun shining bright. He can almost feel how hot the weather is, and he moves through the field. Tails pushes plants out of his way, then he hears a loud buzzing sound, but he doesn't know where it's coming from. An airplane appears in the sky and it comes closer and closer, almost making contact with the field. Two giant gun barrels appear from the wings and start shooting at Tails. The fox is hit, and falls to the ground. He tries to get up, but he is stepped on and he sees Miles above him. Tails anger spikes up but he can't get up. Miles spits on the ground beside Tails' head. suddenly, the sound of a clock tower bell Is heard and the sky turns an apocalyptic themed setting. Miles kicks Tails in the ribs, and the fox can feel his ribs crack from the impact. Miles stands back and he pours some kind of liquid on him, then walks away.

Tails tries to make himself believe this is only a dream. But at this point he feels everything that happens to him. Tails is confused and scared, so he tries to fight through the pain and he gets up. He slips on his side, and his bullet wounds bleed out more. He groans in pain, but gets up again. He turns around to see Miles smoking a cigar and points a shotgun at him. Tails gets a whiff of the liquid on him, and realizes it's gasoline. He can only thing of one thing, Why are you doing this? But before he can open his mouth, the gun fire and he catches fire. The fire intensifies and he tries to roll out the flames. Miles gets into the airplane and flies off as the entire field catches fire. The pain goes away as Tails closes his eyes and everything turns black. This was all a dream, or the biggest nightmare.

The fox is woken up, lying on a couch. He starts breathing heavily and falls to the floor, unable to control his breathing. Cream and Marcus try to calm him down, but Tails is too paranoid and frightened. Finally Cream grab him by the shoulders and tells him to calm down. Tails can hardly make out the voices, to him they sound distorted and demonic. He slows his heart rate and rests his head on the couch. Marcus helps him back up on the couch and Cream stays with him for the rest of the night.

Marcus stands on the patio next to Espio and the two lean on the railing, looking out at the ocean.

"Jesus, he was terrified" Marcus says

"I know. He was like that when I got to him. who ever that was that did this, he looked just like Tails, but more scared up" Espio replies

"Does he have a brother he pissed off?"

"Not that I know of. Couldn't have been his dad, either…"

"How do you know?"

"What kind of father does that to his son?"

The two go quiet and try to think of who this was. Tails slowly starts to go back to sleep, Cream hold an ice pack to his forehead and puts a blanket over him.

The next morning Marcus starts making breakfast, eggs, bacon and toast. Cream helped him and Espio watched over Tails, and the news. A reporter talks about the attack on Tails the night before which "left him in a coma" Espio shuts off the TV and throws the remote on the couch.

"Coma, my ass. These guys can't report for shit.."

Just then, Tails opens his eyes and sits up.

"Hey guys, Tails is up"

Cream is the first to run into the living room and hug Tails. The fox groans in pain so she lets go. Tails looks around the room and coughs. His vision is still a bit off, but he is in better condition. No one says a word, and Tails stands up. he walks around the room, checking his body for marks, or bullet wounds in case his dreams were real. He lifts his shirt, only to find dried blood on his fur. He comes back to the living room, opens his mouth to speak, but he doesn't say a thing. He looks around one more time, then looks at Espio.

"What happened to me?" Tails asks, hearing his on voice sound distorted.

"Who ever kicked our ass must've really all out on ya, you were so terrified, you were acting like you were possessed or something" Espio answers

"If you saw what I saw, you would be too.."

"What did you see?" Cream asks

"Some horrific stuff, I can't even explain it. just.. just trust me, you don't wanna know"

"Do you know who this was? Cause this guy looked just like you"

"Said his name was Miles. he kicked my ass big time"

"I know, you looked dead when I saw you. your eyes were wide and red, and blood coming from your nose"

"This guys' good, I'll tell ya that. I hit him once when he was choking me"

"This guy almost killed you. He put you right to sleep"

"I'm gonna go shower, I gotta get this blood off me.."

Tails takes off his shirt and goes to the washroom. Cream, Marcus and Espio look at each other but say nothing. they really have to be careful next time they go out if they see this guy, Miles.


	2. Chapter 2

Hours go by in what seemed like minutes, Tails tries his best to recover from the attack and freakish nightmare state he was put in. Cream, Marcus and Espio sit in the living room, waiting to hear from Tails. After a shower, some pills for sore joints and a sip of Espio's bottle, Tails starts to feel better, but not 100%. Nothing but silence lingers from Marcus' house, until the screeches of police and fire truck sirens coming from the city. That's usually the signal for them to get out there, so Espio looks at the Fox for an order. Tails looks at Espio and signals him to follow him. Espio gets up and Tails leads him towards the back door. They enter go out to the back porch and talk.

"So, what's going on, are we going out there?" The chameleon looks at Tails

"I can't go anywhere right now. You've got charge tonight. I want you guys to stop as much gangs as you can, if things get to out of hand, get back here. But the second you see that guy, RUN. Don't be a hero" Tails answers

"Roger that. Hey, want anything to drink that headache away?" Espio chuckles

"Take this serious, Ninja" Tails leans on the painted wooded railing

"Yeah, I will" the chameleon replies as he walks away

"Hey!" Espio looks back at Tails "Look after Cream, too man. I don't this freak getting' to her"

Espio nods at the fox and goes off into the house to fill his team mates in on the game plan. He looks at Marcus and only says one thing. _I'm in command, tonight. Watch your asses out there. Lets get to work_. Cream makes sure she gets a good luck kiss before she leaves and the team of three make their way into the city. They take a somewhat long walk back into the unforgiving town through a series of long tunnels and pathways that are practically abandoned.

They make their way through the dark tunnels, knowing they are getting closer by the oncoming sounds of traffic. The chameleon makes sure to tell them about The game plan, what Tails said about Miles, and to stay clear of him. Espio leads the way at a seemingly slow pace, until the sounds of gun fire and screams get louder. The three take off as fast as they can through the final tunnel and onto street level. Espio signals Marcus to go left, Cream to the right and he goes straight for downtown.

"What The hell do you punks think you doing?" Marcus yells to two kids with hoods over their faces looting a pawn shop.

One kid pulls off their hood, revealing a black designed bandana over their mouth, and speaks "Just go the other way and we'll let ya keep that arm" it's a female voice

"Listen, girl, I don't have time for your games. Drop the stuff and leave before it gets messy for the both of you" Marcus threatens

"You'd hit a girl?"

"No, but I know someone who's got no problem with that" The two kids keep filling bags up with stuff from shelves. "Are you listening? This is the last time I'll ask you.."

Marcus takes a step closer but the hooded girl pulls what looks like a shotgun from behind the cashier desk. She fires it point blank at Marcus, sending him flying through the glass door and onto the road. He feels for any bullet wounds, but there's none. He picks up what hit him, a brown beanbag. He looks up and realizes this girl has a beanbag shotgun. She reloads it and aims it at the Raccoon's face. Marcus rolls out of the way and uses a trash can lid for protection. It clangs from the beanbags shot at him, while he gets closer to the girl. He gets two feet from her when he is hit in the head with an iron dumbbell. The hooded girl's friend helps her pick up their loot and take off into the darkness. Marcus shakes off the hit and goes in pursuit.

"Looks like a massive blackout hit the city" Cream tells Her Chao, Cheese "Watch our 6, I don't wanna wake up in a cage tomorrow"

Cheese nods and Cream goes airborne, flying up to the 4th floor of an apartment building and looking out at the city. Everyone is out robbing stores, fighting others or running for cover. One group of thugs gets Creams attention, 6 people have 2 cornered and are wielding baseball bats. Cream jumps off the building to stop the on coming beating. The rabbit lands on a windowsill just above the gang and looks down at them.

"Really? You guys need weapons to fight two girls?" the gang looks up at Cream and take a step back "You guys must be really tough…"

Cream jumps off and lands in front of the two girls "..Why don't you show me how tough you are?"

"This ain't about you, Rabbit! We have business with these girls! now, scat if you to keep that pretty face of yours" The leader of the gang yells.

"Those bats won't do a thing to me.." Cream replies

"Do you wanna find out?"

Cream smirks, then gets a running start at him. She kicks him in the groin, pulls his bat away and looks at the rest. Cream ducks as a bat gets swung at her, uses her bat to block another bat, kicks a guy back, swings the bat at his legs and dropping him. The last two guys back up and rethink this fight. Cream throws her bat at the first guy, as he catches it, the rabbit runs at both guys. The second guy swings his bat, Cream dodges it and it hits the first guy in the face. His friend looks at him, Cream takes advantage and sweeps his legs out from under him. She then jumps up high then stomps on his chest.

"Told ya" Cream wipes her black and red boots off and looks at the two girls she saved.

They're mouths are wide open, but they don't say a thing. Cream picks up all the baseball bats and puts them in an open dumpster, then leaves. The rabbit gets pushed back by two kids running by, then Marcus runs past her. She thinks to herself "He's got this one.." until she spots the evil fox lurking from where the two kids are running towards.

"Marcus!" Cream shouts, but he can't hear her

Cream goes up into the sky and joins the chase, while only 3 blocks the opposite way Espio is on the top floor of an office building. Three guys have 7 office executives hanging on the edge of the building. Espio uses his invisibility to hide himself, but one thing almost gives him away.

"Are one of you guys drunk?" a hawk says to his gang

They all shake their heads, and the leader looks around for anyone else.

"Did you lock that door behind us?"

When he gets no answer, he orders the smallest guy to go back to the building door to lock it. oblivious to his team, he gets taken down and put to sleep. They shout to him a few minutes later, but get no answer.

"Alright, whose up here? get out here right now!" the leader shouts

The only thing he hears is the sound of police sirens all around town.

"Wanna play it your way? Okay.. you, get over here!" the leader takes an executive and pulls him near the edge "Get out here now, or he takes a plunge!"

"Not the suit dummies!" Espio calls out in sarcasm, then appears in front of the leader.

The chameleon knocks the leader down, takes out the guy beside him, takes a few punches from the third guy and the last two jump on him. The leader orders them to bring him to him. Espio goes invisible again and slips away. They look around, then one guy gets dragged away and thrown off the building, landing on a nearby scaffold. The leader gets nervous, then pushes one of his team mates in the way. Espio appears again and quickly drops both of the leader's lackeys. The chameleon gets a hold of the leader, only to be sprayed straight in the eyes with pepper spray. Espio goes invisible to avoid getting hit while he's blinded.

"Your good, but the boss could do the same to you as he did to your buddy, the fox" The leader taunts as he opens the building door and leaves.

Just as Espio grabs the handle, it locks. Cops choose now to surround the place and aim their guns up at the roof.

"You've got one chance to give up, or we'll shoot this place to the ground, your choice!" A police officer orders

"Alright officer! You got it! I'm coming down!" Espio shouts back.

The cops wait several minutes, then the front door opens up. cops aim their guns, then someone comes out and puts their hands up. The same guy Espio threw onto the scaffold comes out and surrenders, and even rats out his buddies.

Cream finally catches up to Marcus and lands in front of him, making him stop in his tracks.

"You take a few more steps and that fox guy will take you out, look!" Cream points to the house Miles was at.

"I can take him, Cream! But it's those punks in the hoodies I gotta stop!" Marcus says

Marcus gets kicked in the back, pushing him into Cream. They hit a wall, then turn around. Two others stand in front of them, but not the same kids Marcus was after.

"Is this them?" Cream asks

"No, but if they wanna fight…"

Marcus takes the first swing, missing the taller guy and getting hit in the face by the girl he's with. The raccoon backs up, bleeding from the nose. Cream runs up and tries a combination on her, but gets blocked and kicked in the stomach. Marcus fakes a kick, then hits the guy with a hard punch, knocking him back into a wall. Cream ducks a punch and runs into the girl, grabbing her by the jacket and throwing her into a stop sign. Marcus and Cream stand ready to fight, but the two run away.

"That's what I thought!" Marcus shouts, but gets cut off.

The raccoon gets kicked in the side from behind, punched in the side of the head and falls down. Miles grabs his legs and swings him, then throws him into the side of a house, breaking through the wall. Cream looks at the evil fox, then remembers what Espio told her. She makes a run for it, but the fox grabs her and grins. He puts his hand on the side of her neck, getting a good grip. His glove glows purple and all of the rabbit's veins start to pop up, turning from blue to black, purple and red. Miles only gets about 10 seconds of this until Marcus knocks him away. Cream falls to the ground, her veins start to go back to normal but the damage is done. Marcus leans down and checks on her.

"Cream! Hey, girl wake up! Come on! God damnit!" Marcus tries to wake her up, but she lays still with her eyes wide open.

Miles lets out an evil laugh, then meets up with the two fighters, the leader from the office building and another tall hedgehog. Marcus finally wakes the rabbit up but she is screaming at the sight of him. She's seeing demonic things where Marcus is while he is trying to calm her down.

"Come on, guys. we've done enough for tonight. Lets get outta here" Miles orders his crew, but stop when they spot Tails coming close.

As she screams, Marcus tries his best to calm her down. Right down the street, Tails looks at the raccoon and his girlfriend screaming. The fox automatically assumes the worst, thinking Marcus did this. Tails runs up and pushes Marcus away.

"What the hell did you do to her?!" Tails yells at the raccoon

"I didn't do nothing, Man! it was your freaky ass evil twin! Chill!" Marcus says back

Tails grabs Cream and holds her still, then repeats "It's me! Cream, Wake up!" over and over. finally she calms down, then all of a sudden she passes out. Tails takes off his dark blue sweater, folds it up and puts it under his girlfriend's head. He transfers his attention to the raccoon and starts yelling again.

"You just left her alone out here? And look what happened, the same shit that happened to me!" Tails yells

"Don't put that on me, fox. We all stayed clear of that freak, then he snuck up on us. I saved her from him, she's fine now so calm down!" Marcus yells back

"You should've never let this happen in the first place! If you would've stayed together-"

"Yeah? And where was you? at home resting off a headache"

Tails gets in Marcus' face "I came out here because I knew one of you guys were gonna get hit by this guy, smart ass!"

Marcus shoves Tails back "You better get out of my face with that, Fox.. I saved her from him, now chill. The fuck. Out"

The two stand off, Tails has to look up at Marcus because of the size difference, but he doesn't back down. Before any fists are thrown, Espio finally comes and splits them up. He stands in between them and plays peacemaker.

"This is too good, Miles.." The leader from the office building says

"Go, and make sure these guys know whose in charge now" Miles orders his crew.

The guy and the girl who attacked Marcus and Cream show up first, making Marcus go quiet. The leader goes behind Tails, Marcus and Espio, and a tall hedgehog in a leather jacket stands beside him.

"If you wanna hit someone, now would be a good time to do it, guys" Espio says, staring at the leader.

Tails makes a run at the tall hedgehog and attacks first, but he gets thrown into a wall and get is the one getting attacked. Espio fights the leader, but gets knocked down by a metal pipe that hits him in the legs. Marcus misses all his punches on the first guy, then the girl jumps up, spin kicks him and the guy starts smashing Marcus. Miles chuckles at the sight of Tails, Espio and Marcus being beaten while Cream lays motionless on the ground in the middle. Tails gets loose from the tall hedgehog and runs at the two beating on Marcus, but gets pulled off and thrown back into the wall, getting punched again. Espio starts to push the leader back, but the girl hits him with the metal pipe again and knocks him down. Marcus overpowers the guy, but the tall hedgehog throws Tails into him and both the guy and girl jump up and spin kick both Marcus and Tails in the face, knocking them out. Espio tries to survive the attack, but then he gets beaten by all four attackers. One last elbow from the leader puts him to sleep. They leave the team to lay in the back alley, 3 of them bleeding. Miles' crew looks up at their boss, and the evil fox signals for them to take off.

"Nighty night, Skyline" Miles grins, then disappears into the darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

A drop of rain hits Espio in the forehead, causing one eye to open up and look around. As he comes to, he is unfamiliar with this area of the city, but then he remembers how he got here in the first place. Espio lays close to Marcus, both bleeding from the nose and bruised from all over their faces. The fox lays a few feet away from the two, still knocked out from the beating. The chameleon gets to one knee when the pain from a sore muscle in his left leg hits him. He hits his leg twice to try and get blood flowing through it, and stands up. Marcus wakes up next, a bit light headed from the attack, and seconds later Tails sits up.

The first thing the fox notices is the small pool of blood that has formed under Espio, causing concern from him. It must have been about 2 hours since they have been left in the back street. Tails crawls over to his girlfriend Cream and checks her for injury. She hasn't been awake since Miles got to her. Tails picks up her bag and his jacket from the ground. The fox picks up the smaller Rabbit and holds her in his arms while he stands up. Tails holds the rabbit in his arms and feels the rain coming, so he decides to get some shelter. Marcus and Espio follow him down a series of back streets, now being drenched in rain. The chameleon notices it's still dark outside so he checks his phone for the time. 4:17 am.

Tails brings the gang to a run down, graffiti ridden neighborhood on the west end of town only a few blocks from where they woke up. They enter what looks like an abandoned garage next to a stock warehouse and a charred black house, likely torched in a fire. Tails sets the rabbit on a work table, puts her bag under her head as a pillow and puts his jacket over her for warmth. Espio leans against a wall, pulls out a large liquor bottle and starts it off while Tails and Marcus look out the garage door at the rain.

Marcus paces back and forth, looking at himself in a dirty broken piece of glass, and has a surprised look when he sees all the bruises. No one says a word, they just stay quiet and wait for the rain to stop. Tails is on the verge of passing out for how tired he is, but keeps himself awake while Espio is more than comfortable in his spot. Marcus takes a seat on an old stool with most of the padding gone. After 40 minutes of complete silence, except for the rain, Marcus gets up and speaks his mind.

"So this is it, huh.. get our asses kicked and just sit back in a dump like this?" Marcus looks at the fox

"If you wanna go out for a shower, be my guest. Not much else we can do right now" Tails answers, staring at the dirty floor

"I'll tell ya what** I'M** gonna do" The Raccoon looks outside "Go home"

"What, just bail on us?"

Marcus stops and looks over at Espio in the corner, then at Cream laying on the table. Tails waits for an answer.

"This team was supposed to be about fighting the bad guys and helping out people who can't fight. It's not supposed to be about playing the blame game, losing every fight and just giving up-"

"Who said we're giving up?" Tails interrupts

"Might as well, this guy is just too damn good.." Marcus still keeps his eye on the outside rain "**YOU** couldn't beat him, and you're supposed to be the leader.."

As Tails and Marcus continue their argument, Cream opens her eyes and looks around, confused as to where she's at. She looks over and spots Espio by himself drinking a bottle to which he nods at her. She waves at him, and turns the other way to see Tails getting in Marcus' face and watches them argue. She stands up and walks towards them.

"Guys! stop! Jesus.." Cream gets in between the two

"Cream! You're awake!" Tails exclaims, hugging her

"Hold on, I'm still a bit sore.." the rabbit backs up and leans against the wall lding at her head "Why are you two yelling at each other?"

The rabbit gets both guys explaining their sides of the story, then both yelling at each other again. she sighs, then looks down.

"Okay, quiet! Let's just uh.. try to resolve this.."

"I'll tell you how I'm gonna resolve this, by going home. This ain't what a team is supposed to be.. I'm out.."

Marcus puts his hood on and heads out into the streets, not looking back at his former team members. Cream sighs then walks back to the table, collecting her stuff. Tails follows and talks to her.

"Listen, all that shit that happened, I admit it was mostly on me, but you have to see things my way, too. He didn't do anything to help-"

"No, Tails, just stop right there. Quit trying to blame him, I know this wasn't on him at all, he saved me" Cream looks in the fox's face, making him back by "..where were you when I needed you?" Cream packs her bag up and puts it over her shoulder, Tails has nothing to say "I just need some time alone.."

The rabbit walks past her boyfriend, wiping a tear from her face as she leaves the garage and into the rain. Tails says nothing and sits on the work table, He hears the rain pour down harder onto the roof, some of it getting inside. The sound of a bottle breaking gets Tails' attention, and he realizes he's not alone just yet. He slowly looks to his right at the chameleon taking a drink from another one of his bottles.

"You.. you're still with me right, man?" Tails asks

Espio takes a long drink, finishes off his liquor, puts the cap on the bottle and shakes his head at the fox. The chameleon grabs his bag and exits the garage too, leaving Tails by himself. The fox puts his down and closes his eyes, ashamed of himself. Ashamed he let his team come to this, ashamed he lost. He lays back on the table and begins to think things over. He wonders what's next for him, leave town, or stay here and fight Miles alone. all this thinking gets him tired, so he closes his eyes and eventually falls asleep.

An hour of walking, and Marcus is just outside his house, but something isn't right, he can tell. He goes around to the backyard and sees his back door is kicked in. He rushes inside to find the most expensive items he had are now gone. He runs around his house to check out the place. Espio's liquor bottles are gone, room is trashed and a single empty beer bottle stands on the floor. Marcus punches a hole in his wall and lays down on his bed. He hears a small noise in the back room so he cautiously goes to see what this is. Out of no where Cheese, Cream's chao, pops out and lands on Marcus's shoulder. It holds tight, as if looking for protection.

_Ah, you scared me.. Don't worry, you're safe as long as I'm here. I'll get whoever did this, you can guarantee that._

Cream walks through the downtown streets, surprised most stores on every block are still open at this time. She makes her way to the same motel she, Tails and Espio stayed at a few weeks back. She gets to the lobby and sees there's a female purple hedgehog working the front desk.

"My, my.. you look like you just left a train wreck of a relationship, get out of the cold and in here, girl" The hedgehog at the front desk says to Cream.

The rabbit looks at here with a surprised look "How'd you-"

"Hon, I've been through this many times myself, we've all been there. Come grab a chair, I'll get ya a blanket and some hot chocolate"

Espio stumbles into 24 hour bar, takes a seat at a window and gets a look out at the rainy city streets. A waitress comes over to him and he orders a few cold beers to start off. The whole bar has a radio playing all grunge music on a cheap radio station, making this place even more unusual. While waiting, he looks around the bar to see who's here. An older badger at the main bar and female Raccoon sitting close to Espio. His beer comes and he starts to drink when the raccoon girl takes a seat opposite from him. The chameleon looks in front of him to see pink painted nails grasps a beer bottle. She takes the second beer and opens it. Espio looks on in interest, and continues to drink.

"I only intended on paying for myself when I got here" Espio says

"Don't worry, I've got the next round. Name's Lindsey, by the way"

"They call me Espio, for my traits as a spy.. or just cause my old buddy couldn't think of a better name"

The raccoon giggles a little at this "Hm, you're supposed to be a spy?" Espio nods "You're a funny guy, huh?"

"I don't try to be.." Espio finishes his beer and sets it down "You said you've got the next round, right?"

The fox feels a pair of eyes on him, so he opens his and hopes this is his Girlfriend, but this is someone completely different; a girl, but not the girl he was expecting. He sees a pair of very light blue eyes and a black and white leather jacket on this female Ferret. He sits up and takes a double take at this girl, still unaware of who she is.

"Do I uh, know you? or you know me?" Tails asks nervously.

"Oh, I'm sorry, sometimes I stare when I meet new people. I don't know who you are, and you most likely don't know me. I just saw you when I was passing by…" the girl speaks lightly, pushing back her blonde and pink dyed hair.

"Just wanted to say hi, huh.. Well, guess I should introduce myself, my name is Tails, or Miles Power if you wanna get technical.."

"Hey, I know another fox named miles, too! But he scares me, to be honest.."

"Yeah, seems like everyone I meet is scared of this Miles guy"

"Have you met him? he hurts a lot of people around here and I don't know why"

"I just bumped into him last night, that's why all I'm marked up right now"

"You have some blood on your.. here, I'll get it" The girl reaches into her backpack

The girl pulls out a handful of napkins and soaks it with a water bottle. She uses this to get the dried blood stains from Tails' muzzle. Tails doesn't know what to think of this girl, how kind she is, when almost everyone else he's met here is the opposite. She gets done cleaning away the blood, and leaves the garage to put the napkin in a dumpster, then makes her way back. The fox picks at his wet fur, trying to dry it quickly. The girl sits next to Tails and stares into his eyes, but he is completely oblivious as he is still thinking about what happened with his team. His train of thoughts are stopped when the girl grabs his left hand.

"You look like you had a fight or something last night, these gloves are worn down a lot" The girl looks at Tails' ripped white gloves and more dried blood from his knuckles.

"Don't you have a home, or.." Tails stops, fearing he has offended her

"Well, kind of. The people I live with are very bad and I don't want to be there so I've been out for a few days now"

Just before Tails can say anything else, he hears a male voice yelling in the distance, but kind of close to the garage. He looks outside and sees a tall Brown bear in baggy clothes looking around the various houses. Tails spots an object in his hands, so he gets ready to fight. The girl stands beside him and looks outside.

"Celia! Hey, girl, come on! Family's waiting for ya back home, lets go!" The bear says

Tails walks out to the street and looks down at the bear, knowing this Celia is the girl he just met, and this guy is looking for her. Just before he goes to confront the bear, Celia staTails and stops him.

"No, Tails, it's okay. I don't want you to get hurt anymore than you have, okay?"

"He's just one guy, he wouldn't lay a finger on me.." Tails smirks

The bear spots Tails and Celia, then he snaps his fingers towards a gate. A big wooden gate opens and 9 other thug looking guys walk next to the bear and stare at Tails. The grin on the fox' face slowly goes away.

"He's always got his friends with him. It's okay, he won't do anything, they're just looking for me. I guess I have to go now, Tails. I hope we can hang out again soon"

Tails doesn't say a thing or make a move, so Celia just smiles and walks towards the gang. Tails stands ready for a fight, but he knows he would lose this one, He's in no condition to do anything. Celia waves to Tails and he waves back, still keeping eye contact with the bear.

Marcus goes back into town to get something to fill his kitchen with, so he heads into a grocery store. Having never bought groceries, he grabs a cart and fills it with chips, pop, bread, one apple and 30 dollars worth of candy. He gets a weird look from the cashier when he pays for it, but he doesn't think anything of it. When he gets outside, he sees a small girl with a bandana around her neck and a hat. Something seems very familiar about her, so Marcus keeps his eye on her.

She goes to cross the street, then she suddenly falls down in the middle of the street. She cries loudly, making a guy at a hot dog vendor and a taxi driver come to help her. Marcus sees a kid in a hood run into the open taxi, steal the money box, then make his way to the hotdog stand. He steals the money from a plastic box and runs.

"Hey!" Marcus yells at the kid, getting everyone around to look at him "That kid just stole from you!"

While the taxi driver and hotdog guy aren't looking, the girl in the hat gets up and runs down the street. Marcus won't let this go down, so he throws his back pack over his shoulders and goes to chase the girl into the back streets.

"Crime don't pay, kid!" Marcus yells

"Screw off, meat head!" the girl calls back as she runs.

The girl jumps a fence and runs down an alleyway, while Marcus breaks the fence down and looks for her. He hears footsteps coming from a tunnel so he runs there. He catches up to the girl, and is within a fingertip of her. He goes to grab her, but he gets kicked in the head from one side, while someone else kicks him in the legs on the other. The double kick makes him do a full flip in the air. He lands on the ground, dropping his backpack. The girl turns around and laughs at the downed Raccoon.

The kid who stole the money grabs Marcus' bag, while another guy in a hood and white bandana around his face pulls out a weapon. It's the same kids from the other night who robbed the pawn shop. The guy in the hood loads up a bean bag shotgun and aims it, but misses as Marcus sees it coming. The girl distracts the raccoon while the guy in the hood reloads and shoots Marcus in the chest with a beanbag. He shoots him in the chest again to knock the wind out of him while the others empty out his bag. They take his groceries and leave the bag. Marcus gasps for air while the guy in the hood takes apart his shotgun, then takes off.

"Crime does pay, if you're smart about it!" The girl says as she runs

Marcus is left in the alley, robbed and beaten by thieves, kids lead by a weird guy in a hood. The raccoon gets up and looks in his bag, but everything is gone.

"Ah shit.. what the, who the hell steals food from people?! God damn kids…" Marcus puts the backpack on and limps back to the main streets.

Miles walks through a door, throwing a cigarette away and walks towards a ledge. He looks at the city from a rooftop, listening to loud metal music on a pair of P.A speaker on the side of the building. The evil Fox holds out his left hand and checks out the glove on his hand. It's a black outlined glove with a Red spider web design, with four small neon green circles on his palm. He pokes at the circles when the taller hedgehog in the leather jacket comes up and joins him.

"Something wrong with the model?" The hedgehog refers to the glove

"No, it just needs to be rebooted.. You see any of them?" Miles asks, changing the subject

"Not yet, I'm sure they're hiding somewhere. We really laid them out last night, boss"

"I know, good job. I want you to make it as shitty as possible for these guys, make em' want to leave, Wes"

"I'll get right on that, Miles. There won't be a member of that crew left here by tonight" Wes answers

"Good. And before you chase em' out of town, bring me that rabbit. I didn't finish her off last night, and I want to piss off that fox boy.."

"Sure thing, boss"

The tall hedgehog Wes leaves the rooftop while Miles uses his phone to turn the volume of the music up. He removes the black glove, revealing a series of scars on his left hand most likely from battle. The music makes the building and streets below shake, but anyone who lives nearby doesn't say anything out of fear. Miles walks back into the building and hands the glove to his invention partner. The female hedgehog takes it and goes into a large testing lab. Miles wraps his hand in white tape and sits on a thrown like chair.


	4. Chapter 4

The day soon turns into night, and Espio is keeping himself busy with his new friend from the bar, Lindsey. They check out the downtown streets, going in and out of various bars and clubs. The raccoon talks to Espio about the places around town, who owns them and which are the best spots. As they pass a 6 store plaza, Lindsey takes Espio into a video game store to check out the latest releases. She goes to the new releases side of the store while the chameleon checks out the fighting games. He looks at a cross over of the two biggest franchises and scoffs at the cover. He picks up a brand new game and reads it over.

"Hm, you would think a studio that made a game about people ripping their arms off and then a super hero game could make a decent Sonic the fighters game…" Espio puts the game back on the stand and walks over to Lindsey "Anything you like?"

"This one game, it's mainly about robbing banks and driving around shooting people, but I don't have the money for it.." The raccoon puts the game back on the stand

"Don't worry about it" Espio takes the game and walks to the front

Two minutes he comes back, game in hand with a receipt and the two leave the store. He hands Lindsey the game and walk down the street.

"You totally didn't have to do that, Espio-"

"Like I said, don't worry about it, but the first round at the bar is on you this time"

"Fair enough" Lindsey smiles and hugs the chameleon

Espio gets this weird feeling as she wraps her arms around him, he almost gets nervous but he keeps his cool. They walk for another couple blocks before stopping in another bar for a drink. Lindsey takes a seat next to Espio and rests her head on his shoulder, this is when Espio can tell she is tired.

"Do you wanna go home? I can see you're tired, so…" The chameleon looks beside him

"Well, just a bit. Do you have a place to go after I'm gone?" Lindsey looks up at Espio

"Did, but not at the moment.."

"You can bunk at my house tonight, if you want I mean.."

"Sure, I just wanna finish off this last beer"

While Espio is in the bar, Cream sits at the front desk of the motel with her new friend, Roxy. They talk for hours about the issues the little rabbit has with her boyfriend, while residents try to get Roxy's attention at the desk. After she ignores them, they walk back to their rooms angry.

"So, what are you gonna do now?" Roxy asks, channel on a TV hung on the wall

"I really don't know.. Tails has got to get his act together or I might have to just leave this city, I can't take being hurt again. Even as kids he would ignore me whenever I needed someone to talk. Sure, he was with Sonic a lot but when he wasn't he still "Had better things to do"…" Cream takes a drink of water from cup

"Well, you're more than welcome here anytime you want. I've been exactly where you are now, I don't know how many times now, so I understand your situation. Just make sure you make the right decision in the end, or you might end up hurt again" Roxy replies

"I'll know what the right choice is when the time comes.. not too busy around here tonight, just mad rents.." Cream changes the subject

"I'm just here to book rooms, I'm not the cleaning lady" both stop as loud rap music plays and the bass shakes the entire motel "Oh, great. Hank is drinking again.."

"Do you need to call the manager?" Cream asks

"No, there's not much we can do.. he owns some of this place so he can get away with this stuff.."

"Not tonight.." Cream stands up and walks towards the motel room.

Roxy sits back and watches the 24 hour news station while the music shuts off and a few guys start shouting in pain. Hank the drunk along with his friends run out of the motel and Cream walks back to the front desk.

"Later, boys! Hope you enjoyed your stay!" Roxy waves to the gang "Big mistake, pissing off a lady whose not to impressed with one guy already.."

Tails lays low in the outskirts of town, thinking about leaving town. One side of him tells him to go and don't look back, while the other tells him to stay and fight Miles, with or without his friends. In the early hours of the day, Tails walks the city streets, looking out for his friends but he knows he won't find them. More rain comes down, which doesn't make this night any better. As if things couldn't get worse, Tails looks up to see three gang vans circle him and 20 guys come out. Without a word, they attack him. Tails does nothing to stop the beating because he knows there's no use. He gets flipped around, thrown and held up as the gang gets their punches in. A voice from a building yells down to the gang.

"Hey! The cops are on their way, assholes!" A female voice shouts

"Screw off, lady! Come on boys, leave this trash here. We got the message to him.." The leader of the gang orders

Tails gets to all fours but is kicked in the gut one more time which makes him drop back to the grass. The gang drives away while the fox lays in pain. His heart starts beating fast as he sees two feet walk towards him. He passes out from the pain, unknowing of who this person is. It takes two glasses of cold water to wake him up the next day, and he fears Miles may have picked him up. He is relived when he sees the familiar face of Celia sitting next to him on a bed.

"They really took it to ya, last night. Your shirt was completely covered in blood so I got you a new one" The Ferret hands Tails a new white designer shirt.

The fox says nothing and takes the shirt.

"This isn't my house, by the way. It's a friend's house. I left home again, hopefully for good this time. The guys I live with don't like you. Steve, the bear you saw yesterday, told them about you. seems like you have a reputation as a vigilante and they don't like that" Celia takes a bite of an apple

"How did you get me here?" Tails looks around the room

"I carried you here" Celia throws the apple in a garbage can "You know, for a guy, you're not that heavy"

"You carried me all the way from that park?"

"All the way..? the park is just over there" Celia points out the window and across the street

"So it was you I heard last night…"

"Yep. Once I saw your tails flying around the park, I knew I had to help you"

"I had things under control, Celia"

"Really? So you let gang members beat you up, then take them out?" Celia asks

"Sarcasm is the last thing I need right now.."

"I wasn't being sarcastic, I don't even know how to use that. And I'm not a mean person, so I wouldn't be sarcastic, Tails"

"Sorry, I've just been on edge lately" Tails stands up and changes into his new shirt "You wouldn't happen to have anything to eat, would you?'

Tails follows Celia downstairs to the kitchen of her friend's house, meanwhile Marcus is out in the backyard of his house setting up some sort of contraption. Cheese floats around the backdoor and Marcus pulls a rope to set whatever this is. The raccoon walks up to the porch and pours himself a glass of orange juice.

"There, now the next guy who tries to sneak in is in for a nasty surprise when they open that gate" Marcus tells Cheese

The Chao looks at it, then returns to floating around the air around Marcus. He finishes his Juice and looks at Cheese.

"Your friend Cream didn't show you how to play cards, did she?" Marcus asks

The large raccoon opens a deck of playing cards, shuffles them and splits them in two sections. He throws Cheese a small deck and they sit across from each other.

"We'll start off easy. This is go fish, I think you know the rules. We'll play for fun now, and work on betting later" Marcus explains

After an hour the game switches from blackjack to full poker. Marcus is surprised how good Cheese is at this. He loses 57 dollars to the small chao before he calls it quits.

"Well, I'd better go shop for more food. Hopefully I don't get jumped and robbed again. You enjoy this victory, Chao. I'll get my money back soon enough"

Marcus locks his front door and heads back to town. On his way, he spots a gang of hooded kids running around the rooftops._ I learned my lesson yesterday, those kids can run around all they want_. Marcus gets downtown but before he gets to the grocery store he spots the same girl from yesterday scoping out an elderly hedgehog in the street. Okay, I can't let these kids rob an old man. Marcus runs up to the girl and grabs her backpack.

"Not this time, girl" Marcus says

"You've got the wrong idea, dude! And I'd back off if I were you!"

"Go ahead, call them. I'm ready for them this time"

"You asked for it.. DON'T TOUCH ME THERE, YOU PERVERT! HELP! SOMEONE, PLEASE!" the girl shouts as if she's dying

Marcus lets go but everyone around him is already circling him while the girl slips out from the crowd. Marcus tries to calm them down but it's not working.

"Trust me, it's not what-"

"Shut up, you pedo!" a female Badger yells

"Now, lets not get any ideas.." A man tries to grabs him but The raccoon bends his fingers backwards and kicks him back "Damnit, I don't wanna have to do this, but if you want to…"

Marcus shoulder blocks the crowd in front of him and starts to run away but the crowd of over 50 is right on him. He runs out of the city, tiring out half the crowd and making them stop. But he still has at least 20 on him. Marcus jumps out a hilltop and into a large wooded area. The crowd stops running and lets him go, knowing they can't follow him. Marcus lands in a large tree and smashes off the branches. He is able to grab a hold of it and climb down, but he gets cut open from the sharp branches stabbing into him.

"God damnit, all this way for this shit…"

"Your day isn't quite shitty just yet" A voice calls to Marcus from behind

The raccoon turns around and looks up at 7 teenagers in hoods and bandanas. The make their way down a hill and surround him. The girl from downtown joins the group and looks on from the mountainside.

"Following me?" Marcus asks

"The path you took the city folk on leads to the woodland. We figure it's the perfect chance to wipe out one annoying problem right now" The leader of the gang says, pulling out his retractable Beanbag shotgun.

"Well then, lets not waste day light, boys"

As Marcus cracks his knuckles ands get ready to fight, Espio leaves a note on Lindsey's dresser. He puts on his jacket and heads out again. The chameleon pulls out his and looks up his contacts. Tails' number pops up first, but Espio scrolls down to Marcus' number and calls it. The raccoon is held against a tree but answers his phone with his left hand.

"Little busy here, argh!" Marcus grunts while getting punched.

The phone goes dead, so Marcus puts it back in his pocket and continues to fight. He throws everyone back and growls.

"That's it?! COME ON!"

Tails eats a quick bowl of cereal and jumps in the shower. Celia waits for him as he comes out, but he only goes to her room for his bag and hat. Tails gets his stuff ready and turns on the music on his phone. He puts on headphone in and looks at Celia.

"Here's my number if you need me, I have to go" The fox hands the Ferret a small piece of paper.

"Okay, Tails. I'll see you around"

Tails puts the other headphone in, waves and walks out of the door into the busy streets

A second later Marcus' phone rings again so he answers briefly "Not now!" Marcus hangs up and turns off his phone. The beanbag shotgun loads up and makes an intimidating low clicking sound.

"Done taking calls or should we wait?" the leader asks sarcastically

"I'm good, lets just do this" Marcus answers

He dodges a beanbag gun shot and rushes the leader, making his whole pack run after the raccoon. Marcus forces the hooded leader into a long water pipeline tunnel and the fight continues. Marcus breaks the shotgun in half and starts to beat the leader. The gang jumps on him and pull him away. They corner Marcus and lay the boots to him. The leader goes punch him but he gets kicked backwards by a girl in heels. The chameleon comes out and backs the gang up, making room for him, Cream and Marcus to stand. Marcus looks up in surprise as Cream extends her hand to him. The raccoon takes it and stands up.

"Fox boy didn't show?" Marcus asks

"Guess not.." Cream says

Marcus, Cream and Espio stand ready for the fight, waiting for someone to make the first move. The leader of the thieves orders his gang to back off, and they slowly walk out of the tunnels. The three stand down and take a break in the middle of the tunnel.

"How'd you find me?" Marcus asks

"Tracking signal. All these new smart phones have them now a days.." Espio replies "I knew you were in trouble the second you picked up, so I let the phone do it's magic, called her up and we got here as fast as we could"

"I knew Tails wasn't gonna come so I had to step it up. sometimes he really pisses me off.." Cream adds

"Thanks guys… I uh, really needed that. I would've been done out here" Marcus says

"We're not just a team, we're friends, with or without Tails here" Cream says

Marcus nods, and skyline takes off back to the city streets. Tails frantically looks around town for his friends, looking to make up for the past few days and get back on the same page. He hears shouting behind him so he turns around. Celia waves to him, so he stops and waits for her.

"Tails! I have to tell you something!" Celia runs to Tails

"What is it? I'm kinda-"

Both Celia and Tails stop and look towards a billboard; Miles. Just down the street from Tails stands the identical fox wanting to wipe him out. The two fox's stare each other down, the angry from both rises. Miles looks to the left and guides Tails' attention to the gang of thieves still angry from having to walk away from the last fight. They circle Tails and Celia, backing them up in a corner. Miles grins and jumps to another building to watch the fight. Celia runs behind Tails and he shields her from attack, while the gang gets ready to rush him. Suddenly the fox runs at the leader, grabs him and flies through a barbwire fence. The whole gang rushes to follow them, leaving Celia by herself with Miles a few buildings away. She also joins Tails in the abandoned construction site.

The fox and the leader fight for control, and Tails knocks off his hood, revealing long spiky green quills. The hedgehog punches Tails away and rips off his bandana, showing a tan muzzle with a spider bite piercing on his chin.

"I've got this fox, you watch the girl!" The leader shouts

The gang turns their attention to Celia and make sure she's no threat to their leader. The two fight, grunting in pain but keep going. They smash against the unfinished walls of this building and it's so loud it's heard downtown. Pipes and large metal beams fall off ledges from the impact of the fight. Tails starts to lose the fight, so he grabs the hedgehog and flies to the second floor and rams him against a wall. He breaks the wall down with the hedgehog and throws him back to the first floor. One of the gang members throws their leader a metal baton and he uses it on Tails as he flies down. Celia yells for the hedgehog to stop the fight, but he continues. Tails is able to slip free and put him in a choke hold. The loudest clang of metal sounds out, making everyone cover their ears. Tails lets go of the hedgehog and looks up.

"That's ENOUGH" Espio calls out, walking into the construction site with Marcus and Cream.

"Gimme another 10 seconds and come back, buddy, I had this kid…" Tails spits out blood and breathes heavily

"No. no more fighting. It's done" Espio answers

"You…" Cream looks at the green hedgehog "You almost look like.. Sonic.."

"You know Sonic?" The hedgehog asks

Tails looks at him "We're his friends.."

The hedgehog looks at Tails "I'm his brother.."

Tails eyes go wide in shock, along with Cream and Espio. Everyone goes quiet for a minute. While they stand silent, Celia runs up to Tails and hugs him tightly. Cream look at him with anger while he tries to get Celia to let go. Espio looks at the green hedgehog and speaks.

"If you're Sonic's brother, What's his mother's name?" Espio asks

"MY mother's name is Aleena, and Sonic is my younger brother…"

"And what's your name, pal?" Marcus asks

"**Manic**"


	5. Chapter 5

The silence in the construction site had been interrupted by slow footsteps making their way closer to the two crews. Everyone's attention was turned to the destroyed chain link fence they entered in. Only Manic and Espio were staring at each other. The footsteps got louder and finally whoever this is was closing in. Tails' expression went from agitated to angry as Miles appeared in front of the groups. Celia quickly hid behind the fox for protection while everyone else gathered around Miles. He took out a cigarette from his coat pocket and began to lit it up. Espio had turned his attention to the evil fox and waited for a first move. Miles took the smoke out of his mouth and looked at the large group.

"Ahh, Manic. Always good to see you around town, I was beginning to think you had left town.." Miles calls to the hedgehog sarcastically

Manic doesn't say a word, only cracks his knuckles. Miles gets closer to the group and speaks again.

"Anyone who doesn't want a part of this, get the hell out of my sight now…." No one moved "Last chance.."

Tails turns around quickly as Celia ran off, leaving the group to face Miles. Cream, still suspicious of Tails' new friend, continued to give him a dirty look.

"Alright, now that's out of the way.. Fox boy, Spiky, now's a good time to say goodbye to your friends…" Miles leans against a wall

"Why's that, Miles?" Tails asks the fox

The evil fox sighs "…Because none of you are making out of this building alive…" Miles crosses his arms "I'll think about sparring a few of you, I may need some of your, uh… "Talents" in my crew.. but either way, someone dies in the next hour.."

Tails looks over at the chameleon, raccoon and rabbit with a blank look and Manic stands in front of his crew, standing his ground. Tails knows this is his one chance to make the first move, but Espio stops him. The fox looks at him with a surprised look, but the chameleon signals him to move aside. Espio walks towards the evil fox and throws the first punch but misses as Miles dodges it and makes a run for Cream. Tails gets in the way but is kicked aside, and Marcus is easily knocked back. Just before Miles can get his hands on Cream, Manic rushes him and his crew join in on the beating. miles is able to slip under all 6 members of Manic's crew and runs to a wall. Everyone begins to circle him, thinking they have him trapped. Miles punches the wall, signaling his crew to come in. 9 more members of Miles crew run in from all sides of the building and the gang fight starts.

Tails and Espio attack Miles, but he blocks and dodges their punches and avoids them. Marcus takes on the large hedgehog in the leather jacket, Cream goes one on one with only girl in Miles' crew. Manic and his gang take on the leftovers. Tails rushes the evil fox and hold shim against a wall while Espio stands behind him and starts swinging wildly at Miles' face. The fox' head bounces off the wall, so he bobs and weaves his head away from the punches while elbowing Tails in the back. He pushes the fox back and kicks him into Espio. Miles pulls out his pistol hooked inside his holster on his shoulder and aims it. Time slows down as he quickly measures the shot, pointing it directly at Manic's crew. At the last possible second Tails jumps in the line of fire and the gun shot rings out.

Tails goes down and Cream lets out a scream of terror while Miles aims the gun at Manic himself. Miles pulls the trigger and shoots him in the body. Manic groans, but stays on his feet as Miles shoots again. Manic takes two more bullets to the body before he stops and is knocked back. The final shot knocks him into a wall and he falls down. Cream tries to run to Tails but she is pulled by the jacket and back into combat. One of Manic's friends runs over to him and checks him. Espio and Marcus know they won't survive this one if they stay. Espio pulls out his liquor bottle while Marcus rips a piece of the hedgehog's jacket off and passes it to the chameleon.

Espio ties the fabric around the bottle and uses his lighter to spark it up, creating a Molotov cocktail. He throws it towards Miles but the fox dodges it and the bottle explodes on large wooded planks. Within seconds the whole construction site is set ablaze, forcing everyone out. During the hurry to get out, Espio rushes to grab Tails but the fox's body is already gone. Manic gets helped to his feet but is able to run out of the building on his own. Marcus yells for him to follow while Miles and his crew disappear.

Skyline and Manic's crew run to the docks in the now rainy streets while dozens of police vehicles and fire trucks show up. They all make their way to another tunnel walk way, Espio and Marcus check the streets for cops. Manic takes off his sleeveless jean jacket and uses it to apply pressure to his wounds. Cream wipes all the tears and black eye liner running down her face away. She stands up and approaches Manic, but his crew stands in her way.

"Get the hell out of my way!" Cream shoves everyone away and looks down at Manic "This is all your fault you bastard! You're the reason Tails is dead!"

"Hey, I didn't know Miles was even coming, girl.. so don't put that shit on me. it was your boyfriends' fault for gettin' in the way"

"He took that bullet so you and your friends didn't, you son of a bitch!"

"Alright, Stop. Look, we aren't gonna get our hands on Miles any faster while we're at each other's throats, so lets just chill…" Marcus calms the situation down

"I agree, If Tails was killed, then us fighting would mean he died in vain… You.." Espio looks at Manic "We need your help finding Miles and taking him down-"

"Yeah? And what if I say screw you, you're on your own? Huh? tough guy?" Manic cuts Espio off

"You owe him! He took that bullet for you and your friends! don't be an asshole about this!" Cream yells to the hedgehog

"I got shot up, too, rabbit!" Manic yells louder, making the rabbit back up "Look, I can't exactly go out like this.. even if I did want to help you-"

"Please, Manic.. Sonic would be devastated if he heard Tails died.. We all love him.."

Manic gets one of his friends to help him up and ties his jacket around his body tighter to put more pressure on him. He thinks about this request for help for a few minutes, looking around the tunnel and rainy streets. The green hedgehog's crew and skyline wait for his response. Espio decides to take out a beer bottle from his bag and sips on that while everyone waits for Manic's answer.

"You guys are so screwed in the head if you think we're taking down that fox and his powerhouse of a gang…" Manic turns around to face the team "…but the fox took that shot and we're all still here so I guess that means we owe him.."

"But, boss.. we're helping them?" The girl thief in Manic's crew asks the hedgehog

Manic sighs and looks at her "Yeah, that's what I'm saying… "

The green hedgehog walks past his friend and looks at Espio "We only help each other, never anyone outside this, our Family… but your friend, something about him, he reminds me too much of my younger brother, Sonic.. "

"So your in?" Marcus asks

"Just this once, and ONLY once, understand? Never again. We take down this bastard and go our separate ways after this shit is done.." Manic looks in the Chameleon's eyes

"Understood" Espio doesn't lose contact with the hedgehog, taking a long drink of his beer

Manic backs up and walks to his crew, Espio does the same. Marcus and Cream stare at the larger crew, un-intimidated by the numbers.

"First order of business, Chameleon.. I think I'm gonna need something to close this wound or it'll bleed out.." Manic calls to Espio

"Walk to the hospital then, boy"

"That's the thing, I can't show my face around public places because of my uh, ya know… 'misdeeds'"

"Because you're a criminal who has done too many crimes that no one trusts you and there's no going back at this point" Marcus says

Manic looks at the large raccoon with a blank expression, thinks about the statement and looks back at him "Well, I wouldn't say I'm alone in this.." Manic looks back at his friends who put their heads down

"Oh, and no one could care less if you and your 'Family' there dropped off the face of the planet" Marcus adds

"That's more like it" Manic replies

"Alright, enough talking. We'll get ya some supplies from a drug store so you don't die on us, and then we'll go from there" Cream says as she orders the team

Espio leads the way out of the tunnels, but Marcus slows down to give one last piece of advice to Manic on the way out.

"I lost my brother awhile back, but I'm doing just fine now. If I were you, I'd find a better path to go down.." Marcus says as he passes the hedgehog and his crew

"So I've been told, big guy.." Manic responds as he sits back down

Cream turns around and looks at the hedgehog one more time, then asks him a question.

"How did you survive that gunfire back there?"

"Do you think Sonic was the tough guy of his siblings?" Manic laughs

The rabbit smiles a little, but leaves and catches up to Espio and Marcus as they get back to the streets. They make their way through the pouring rain and local traffic. The grey sky turns pitch black as night falls on the city. One drug store after the other they visit but with their reputation as "Just another street gang" Cream and Espio aren't allowed in stores. Finally, Marcus stops the two from entering the next one and he walks in. five minutes go by as the two wait for Marcus to come out. The raccoon walks out with a shopping basket full of medical supplies and even some snacks for the walk back. The three take back streets as police are now out looking for them. Cream isn't too impressed with Marcus' approach to getting the supplies from the store, but they keep moving.

"All this trouble for that punk.." Marcus says

"We need him if we wanna take out Miles. We know he wants to do the same to us.. so Manic is our only option right now" Espio

"Yeah, we do need him.." Cream adds "as much of a cocky, tattooed thief he is, we're gonna-"

The rabbit is cut off as her phone rings and the song "Somebody I used to know" by Goyte plays loudly, making Espio and Marcus look at her

"Shut up, it's a good song.." Cream says as she pulls out her phone "Oh my god!"

"What? Marcus asks, looking at the phone

He and Cream jump back at the image of Tails, a bloody mess, being held up by Miles with the same pistol he used aimed at his head. Espio doesn't look at the image, he already knows it's gruesome. No one can tell if he's alive or dead, but this image is enough to scare them so much they throw the phone away. The rabbit's phone rings again, she receives a text from Tails' phone. Too frightened by the image, Cream doesn't read it. Espio picks it up and reads it in his head.

It's a bit too late for him…And I'm coming for the rest of you

A message from Miles. Espio puts the phone down and takes another drink from his beer bottle.

The hand of the evil fox crushes Tails' phone and drops the plastic pieces on the floor. Miles takes his gun apart and sets on a work table. He walks back inside a glass chamber big enough for only one person, leans down on one knee and looks down at his opposite. The evil fox presses a glowing switch on his left hand glove and grasps Tails' throat. The fox' eyes shot open and he lets out a growl of pain. Miles releases his grip and laughs.

"You died on us, gave me a bit of a scare" Miles says sarcastically "But that's just what I wanted.. See this on my hand? Best thing I've ever come up with. I call it the pulse plague. It drains you of life, and if I let you live, you see deep, dark things your brain imagines. It can also bring you back to life. Meaning I can kill you anytime I want, but if I feel the need, I'll bring you back for just a little while"

Tails says nothing, just frantically looks around this environment but nothing looks familiar. He breathes heavily and his whole body is cold with dried blood on him. He tries to speak but he must have lost the ability to speak while he died. Tails tries to sit up but Miles pushes him back down.

"Always trying to get up and fight. Your strength and I.Q are the only things we share, but like every polar opposite, one is just this much better. I'm the one who is better. But you have done well for yourself. I gotta say, your little girlfriend, she's kinda cute. It was so delightful when I got my hands on her, but not for long. This time, I'll take her, your meathead friend, and ninja buddy down. you get to sit back and watch the show. Until I'm done toying with them, you'll stay alive to suffer, much like I've been doing for 17 years. Then, when I feel your no longer of use to me, I'll do you one last favor, I'll end it for ya.."

Miles stands up and shuts the glass door of the chamber on Tails. The fox can only hear muffled speech so he tries to get up. He gets to one knee before the chamber lights go out and it fills with a grey mist. Tails feels the chamber move down, like an elevator. The gas makes him go down, and eventually pass out.


	6. Chapter 6

"..Well, I think your fox friend is a goner, I mean look at this photo" Manic gives Cream her phone back and sits down on a concrete block.

The rabbit takes her purple phone back and quickly outs it in her purse "I can look at that.. He can't be dead, he just.."

"We'll get this guy, Cream. Don't worry. Him and all of his goons. They won't get away with this.." Marcus assures the rabbit.

"If you are planning on erasing this dude off the planet, you better do it fast cause he will come at ya with everything and won't stop" Manic adds

"And let me guess, you fought Miles as well?" Espio asks

"Not many guys I lose to on Mobius but he's one of them..." Manic dumps some pain killers in his hand "He gave me a hell of a fight a few years back but I was just starting out then, now I think I can I could take him down myself"

Manic bites the pills and swallows them as Marcus and Cream look at him weirdly, while Espio hands the hedgehog another white bottle of "The goods" as Manic calls them. He crunches on the pills and they take effect immediately. A few of Manic's friends open a gym bag full of food and some chocolate, and this catches The Raccoons' eye. Marcus walks towards the thieves and looks down at them as they eat.

"Huh, I bought some groceries the other day and I got robbed, and I swear those look just like the stuff I bought.."

The girl thief looked up at Marcus and grins "Coincidence?"

"..And my house was broken into"

"Well, maybe-"

"And I was robbed. Twice."

"Alright, man, it was my idea, they just needed to eat" Manic interrupts "They're sorry and it won't happen again.. so, are we cool or what?"

Marcus hesitates for a second "I'll let this one slide, but next time, your buddy won't be there to pull out his little shot gun and bean bags on me"

"And we won't rob you anymore, unless we need to eat again. Case solved, lets move out" Manic orders

Marcus growls but Espio calms him down. Cream and the Espio wait for the gang of thieves leave the tunnel so they can follow. Upon getting back onto the street, the rain stops but it's still all damp and cold out. Espio hears his name being called and everyone turns around.

"Espio! hey, what's up?" the familiar voice of the chameleon's new friend he met, Lindsey

"Whoa, Espio's got a girlfriend?" Marcus jokes with the chameleon. Espio scuffs at him and walks towards Lindsey

"Marcus?" Lindsey asks as she looks at the large raccoon.

"Who, me? nah, I think Marcus, he uh, took off towards Solstice avenue or somewhere the opposite direction, you know?" Marcus tires to avoid eye contact with Lindsey and stands behind Manic

"Espio, whose your friends?" Lindsey asks

"They're just uh, my old buddies from Station Square, they're here for a… a visit.."

"Espio, I know you're lying, you don't have to lie about them. Anyways, I just wanted to talk to you one more time before I take off for Jericho, a city just outside the Mystic zone" Lindsey says

"Isn't that on the other side of Mobius?" Espio asks

Manic yells to the chameleon before Lindsey can speak "Can we hurry this up? I wanna go punch someone" Espio looks at the hedgehog and yells "Just wait a second" Manic takes a seat on the curb.

"Sorry, he's not one of my closest friends.. So, is this a for sure thing?"

"Well, by midnight I'll know. I just wanted to tell you instead of just leaving without saying goodbye" Lindsey replies

"Just kiss already!" Manic yells

Espio glares at him and looks at Lindsey "Well, I did want to talk to you, but just us. I'll call you before 11, and we'll have one more beer together, okay?"

"Yeah, that's cool with me. But we've got to do this before midnight-"

"Right, right, he'll be there and you can drink the night away, but now we have to go, bye bye" Manic says

Espio waves to Lindsey as he walks back to the group and they get back to business, finding Miles' hideout. The combined teams of Skyline and Manic's gang of loyal thieves make their way through Two Gates, searching the streets of anyone in Miles' crew. Manic makes the plan to find one and get him to spill the whereabouts of the evil fox. Espio constantly checks his phone for the time. As the sun starts to come out, it sets just as fast. 5 pm turns into 8 as the gang keeps searching for anyone associated with Miles.

Hours doesn't go by as fast for Tails, unfortunatly. Around the same time when his friends are out searching the streets, the fox wakes up with a frozen stiff steel chain wrapped tightly around his neck. Things get worse as an almost blinding search light is shined in the fox's face from the wall in front of him. Tails covers his eyes, scrambles to his feet and he notices he is in a small pit like area, big enough for about two people. He grabs the chain and feels it connects to the white concrete wall and shakes it. He hear the chain rattle and sees it goes further down a metal pipeline. Finally, The evil fox everyone is looking for shows his face, above the pit as Tails glares at him.

"What is this, some freaky chains and whips fetish you got with me?" Tails says

Miles laughs and sits on the ledge of the pit, keeping eye contact with Tails "No whips, here.. no, I've got something much, much worse than that. Remember when I told you I could stop your vitals at anytime? Well now it's not just you I can toy with"

Tails look at Miles as the evil fox signals for someone to come towards him, and suddenly Tails tries to reach for the other fox. Miles grabs Celia by the arm and forces her to sit next to him on the ledge. Tails can tell she is terrified and this Psycho has the biggest grin on his face as he puts his arm around the ferret.

"Real tough, threatening the life of a girl!" Tails yells

Miles chuckles and looks at Celia "Who said I was gonna take her life? Not me, Tails. Besides, she came here on her own, I didn't send anyone to get her"

Tails looks at Celia, now with tears running down her face. Miles pushes her hair back and dries her tears. Tails now understands, this is who she has been living with, and trying to avoid.

"I'm sorry, Tails.. he's looked af-after me since I was a kid, and I couldn't tell you that, or.." The ferret can't look Tails in the eyes while she speaks "..you wouldn't have.." Celia starts to cry gently as Miles puts his arm around her and she rests her head on his shoulder. Tails takes a step back and leans on the concrete wall, while the grin on Miles' face turns into a blank look.

"Yes, and since the day she left home and ran into you, well I wasn't too pleased. I cared for her, and she leaves me just like that. And if there's one thing that hurts the most, it's the truth…" Miles looks above him and Celia starts to calm down, and looks at Miles. The evil fox's grip gets tighter on her arm, which frightens her "You may be just like a little sister to me, but I can't tolerate this, the things you do. And especially hanging trash like this? You two have one thing in common, no one is coming to save you this time, and everyone you thought you could trust, loved ones, that's all bullshit" Miles looks at the fox inside the pit, then back at the ferret

"Celia, you know I can't have you slowing me down, having to worry about you. I am going to miss you, don't think I'll just forget about you.."

Tails clues in to what Miles means, the end of the road for Celia is coming up fast. The fox isn't sure what to think, having being deceived countless times, lead on, beaten down, and hiding from this guy. Miles shoves Celia down into the small pit with Tails and stands up. Celia falls onto the hard floor, but isn't injured. Tails backs up from the ferret, and she crawls into a corner, still crying.

"I'll find the most appropriate way how I will put you two down for good, but for now you'll live... and Celia?" Miles looks at the ferret "..Enjoy these last moments with your boyfriend, and I want you to know.. your dead to me"

Miles walks away, leaving the two alone in the small pit, but neither speaks, they only sit and think to themselves. In their minds they both have a million things to say, but nothing comes out. Tails sits in the corner across from Celia and he sits on the floor, leaning on the cold wall. Every time he wants to speak, he tells himself to keep quiet, even when all he wants to know is why. Tails tries to take his mind off of this situation and thinks about his friends on the outside.

_Are they even looking for me? If anyone of them were stuck in here I'd be the first guy to break down the walls and rush in. I bet Cream hates me, and it's all her fault. That ferret. God damnit, it's not her fault, it's all mine. it always is, anyway. I might as well talk to her, it would take away the boredom._

Tails looks over at Celia, still huddled up and quietly crying to herself. The fox feels more and more remorseful to her situation "You know, I wouldn't have cared if you told me you were living with him, honestly.."

"No, don't tell me that! I can see how much you hate him, you would've been angry at me, and you would never want to see me again.." Celia looks at the fox

"I might have, or I would've understood where you're coming from, and not judge you. I don't like being judged myself, so why do it to others?" Tails sits up and looks across at the ferret "My point is just tell me the whole story, and I can help you, it's what I'm good at.."

Celia inches closer to Tails, but keeps distance from him as she still feels like he isn't too welcoming of her at this point. The more Tails talks to her, he realizes she isn't the one to blame in this situation, and his hate for Miles goes up that much more.

"So, you're not mad at me for.. for everything? All this?" Celia asks

"Well, a little heads up would've been nice but eh, what can ya do.. that psychopath up there is responsible for all this. When it comes to me and you, we're good" Tails answers

Celia blushes, then hesitates to ask "Tails? I uh, I really need a hug, I just really feel bad for what happened to you and.."

Tails goes to hug the ferret but the steel chain around his neck stops him, so Celia comes to him and the two embrace. The fox lets go but the ferret's grip gets tighter, so he stays with her. Celia looks up at him and kisses the fox, which surprises him, but he lets go.

"What's wrong?" Celia asks

"I can't, no.. I've got a girlfriend and.. I like you, but I'm taken, Celia…" Tails says

"Oh, I didn't…didn't know. I'm sorry, Tails, I just had to, I'm really sorry"

"Ah, it's fine. We're better off as friends in the long run" Tails sees the ferret is a little upset "Don't worry, I know you'll find a guy that's right for you"

"But I only want you, Tails.."

"You'll meet a guy twice as good as me, I promise you"

Celia hugs Tails again and the two lie down next to each other, and eventually falling asleep on the cold hard concrete floor. Tails doesn't want to think about it, but he knows there is no getting out of this alive. He just holds Celia and hopefully reassuring her they'll make it out. Up in a security room, Miles watches the two on a computer monitor with a live camera feed. He punches a wall and walks out, leaving one of his partners to wonder, does Miles actually have sympathy?

Back on the streets, Espio and Manic lead the search, asking around for any sign of Miles' crew members but having no luck. Espio still checks his phone for the time. 9 o'clock. Manic tells Espio about how he left his family and became what he is today.

".. After my sister took over, I didn't want to be around there so I came here and did what I was good at, steal. And soon these guys wanted to join the cause, so I took them in and trained them to be almost as good as the boss. The boss being me, of course" Manic says as he walks down the street.

"Hmm. Never thought any of Sonic's siblings would turn out to be just as hot headed as him" Espio replies

"Well, in this day and age, you need to assert yourself or no one will know who you are, and you'll get walked all over. isn't that right, Cat?"

"Damn right, sir" The girl thief answers Manic as she walks behind him and Espio

"Quite the little gang of storm troopers you've got, Manic.." Cream says

"Why thank you, rabbit. Jeez, how long have we been looking for this guy? I need a beer or two like, right now" Manic exclaims

"I was thinking the same thing, lets go" Espio says

Cream is the only one who doesn't enter the bar, and after a half an hour Marcus comes out. He sees her sitting on a nearby bike rack so he sits beside her.

"What's up? you don't look too good, girl" Marcus says

Cream doesn't say a word, she only sighs. Marcus tries to talk to her but she doesn't say a thing for 10 minutes. Again, the rain starts to come down, and Cream doesn't speak a word. Marcus gives up trying to talk to her, and they just sit in silence. Cream turns on her phone and gives it to Marcus. He looks at the screen, shocked. Tails and Celia kneeling together and kissing is shown, and a smiley face is shown below the image.

"Whoa.. that boy gone and fucked up, huh.." Marcus says

Tears fall from Cream's eyes and onto the ground, and suddenly she gets up and punches the brick wall of the bar. Marcus cautiously gives her phone back and shakes his head in disapproval.


	7. Chapter 7

Manic, along with his gang of thieves, follow Espio as they exit the bar and head into the streets. They join Cream and Marcus in the alleyway beside the bar and a few studio apartments. The chameleon immediately notices Cream is very upset so he walks up to her to ask what's wrong. Marcus fills in Espio of what the situation, and everyone remains silent. While in the middle of a deep thought, Manic slowly approaches Espio and stands behind him.

"So, I take it you're having second thoughts about saving your buddy?" Manic asks

Espio looks at Cream "It's her call"

The rabbit looks at Espio and tries to think of what to do. Everyone stays quiet and listens to what Cream has to say.

"We might as well keep looking for the fox.. even if we don't find Tails, we can still take out Miles" Cream says

Everyone nods in approval while Manic looks at The rabbit holding her phone "Let me see that for a minute.." Manic takes the phone from Cream and clicks various buttons on it, getting her attention "Haha, the kid is a genius.."

Cream takes her phone back "What do you mean?"

"See that little image of a satellite wave that's only about 3 pixels big?" The green hedgehog points to the left corner of the screen "That means his phone is backwards compatible to trackers, which means no one can track his signal except one phone, and only one"

"..And it's her phone, isn't it?" Marcus asks

Cream looks at Marcus "Why would it be mine? It's probably his NEW girlfriends' phone…"

"Only one way to find out, Give it a try"

"I don't know how to do any of that tech stuff, I didn't even know how he did that to our phones.." Cream hands the phone to Manic

"Alright, hold up a sec, let the other genius handle it.." Manic starts to press buttons on the phone.

Cream and everyone else wait patiently while the green hedgehog presses multiple buttons on the phone, getting agitated when he can't figure it out. Manic messes around with the phone, looking into the settings and advanced functions options but not having much luck. Twenty minutes pass as he tries his best to get the phone to track Tails' signal from his phone. After the thirty minute mark, Josh, one of Manic's friends, tells him it might not work and now they are wasting time.

"I don't get it, I thought you're phone could track it, and I've hacked into lots of cell phones, and this phone I know the best, but I couldn't crack it.." Manic says

"Well, it was a good try, I guess. I bet he did program it to only that little bitches' phone.." Cream rest against the brick wall "I thought phones used serial numbers or something for stuff like that?" Cream asks

Manics' eyes widen and he immediately looks at the phone again "I can try to encrypt the image file and there might be some kind of hint in there.." Manic gets back to work. A minute goes by when Manic looks away from the phone "It has all that computer type of encryption, but then there is this 17 number long sequence, might be a serial number"

"What's the sequence?" Cream asks

"Uh, let me see.. 1987791 dash 53854 dash 06317, sounds like a regular one to me… so if it is a serial number, someone with it can track his phone-"

"That's my phone"

Cream and Manic quickly look back and at the chameleon

"How do you know?" Cream asks

"I have a good memory when it comes to numbers, I was trained like that.."

Stella, The girl thief in Manic's gang, looks at Espio "..But aren't you a drunk?"

"Stella, ease off the guy.." Manic calls to the girl

Espio looks down at the girl "Yeah, I am. But that doesn't mean I'm a complete idiot. Here, take my phone"

The chameleon pulls out his phone from his coat pocket and throws it over to Manic, who barely has time to catch it. The hedgehog's face glows as he turns on the phone and gets to work. It only takes 3 minutes until Manic is able to track the signal in Tails' phone. He grins and throws it back to Espio.

"You're buddies' phone is at the storage building with all the units by the cop station downtown. Whether or not HE is there, well I can't tell ya exactly.." Manic explains

"So, this is could be a trap?" Marcus asks

"If he got sent those pictures himself, There's no way Miles missed something like that on the phone, he's too smart" Stella adds

"Correct, which means someone in that damn trap knows where your friend is. Question is: Who wants to test this theory first?" Manic asks

Espio, Cream and Marcus look at each other and decide to talk out a strategy. Manic lights a cigarette and leans on the wall.

"I'll go into the storage building, I have invisibility on my side so I can easily get in and out fast" Espio explains "And if he is in there, I'll signal the rest of you to come in, but if it's a trap, well I'll see you back in the tunnels at 10:30"

Manic nods while he takes a long drag of the cigarette, then exhales and lets out a perfect ring of smoke. Espio tells everyone where to stay while he goes in. Manic stomps out his smoke and gets ready with his gang. Both crews move out and into the city streets one more time. Once again Espio checks his phone for the time. 9 pm. He plans on actually meeting up with his friend later on tonight and not being late.

"Lets make this quick, guys.." Espio says, trying to speed up the whole group

"Ah, don't wanna be late for your girlfriend tonight?" Marcus jokes

"She's not my girlfriend, but yes, I don't feel like being late to see her, for maybe the last time, so can we speed this up?" Espio asks

"Sure thing, ninja. You don't have to ask me twice, haha" Manic says

Around 9:30, the group finally reaches the storage units and get into their assigned spots so they can be ready to charge in the building. Espio uses his invisibility to cloak himself and walk into the building through the front door. Cream has a clear opening into the building so she can see Espio if he needs to signal them.

The chameleon slips down the halls of the storage building, passing by locked units, probably full of drugs or other illegal items being shipped by Miles and his crew. Espio sees a bright light behind a closed door down a dark hallway. He stops as a gang member with an AK 47 assault rifle walks by him. Cream waits for any sign while on a building ledge beside the storage building. The chameleon listens in on the brightened door for anyone, and hears a familiar voice.

"So, Mr. Prower, that special time has come, and I've got something special for you, tonight.. it'll be enjoyable for all of us here.." It's Miles

Espio goes visible for a quick second to wave to Cream, signaling a gun shape with his fingers. The rabbit tries to interpret what he means to herself.

_Gun, I think he means. What's he, hm… oh, caution…_

"Guys, watch out for guns and move carefully Espio says.." Cream calls to the group

Espio looks around the corner, spotting more thugs with guns, so he slides back to the window and signals Cream to come. The rabbit nods at Marcus and the large raccoon rushes into the front door, and Manic joins him. Cream flies off the building and towards the storage building window. She breaks it and rolls as she hits the floor, then goes on the attack. The rest of Manic's gang come out to start the fight. Espio climbs into the air ducts and climbs into the control room. Within a few seconds, every light in the building shuts off. Cream and Marcus disarm most of the thugs while Manic beats them down and they continue down the hall.

"What the hell is that?!" Miles yells as he stands in front of the concrete pit

"We've got company, sir!" Wes, the large hedgehog tells Miles.

The evil hedgehog grabs a bright LED light and both thugs leave the room, while the fight enters it. In the pitch black room, Espio stays invisible and searches the room for any sign of Tails.

"Espio?!" Tails yells

The chameleon sees the shadow of him inside the concrete pit so he jumps inside and goes to him. Espio grabs an arm and tries to climb up the wall, but Tails gets pulled back down to the floor by the metal chain around his neck.

"He's got me chained in this pit!" Tails yells

"Pull on it and watch out!" Espio orders

With little light, Tails yanks on the chain while Espio uses a blade on his gauntlet to rip the steel to sheds in one powerful slash. A gun fires down in the pit and Tails yelps in pain, but doesn't stop. Tails is free, and Espio grabs for him so the two can get out of the darkness and into the streets. Espio uses his strength to throw Tails' out of the pit and onto the main floor. The chameleon backs up and runs up the narrow concrete wall and onto the main floor.

"We've got him! everybody out!" Espio orders

The whole gang leaves and in good timing, a second later and they would've met Miles' response force, all equipped with mini flame throwers and a pistol each. Espio grabs the fox's arm and everyone runs back into the street. Marcus is the last to leave, so he takes an AK 47 and shuts the front doors the second a flame thrower torches it. Everyone races down the street and into a back alley, safe enough from Miles' response team. Everyone catches their breath and leans against the walls of the two buildings they're hiding out in between. Espio lets go of the arm and falls back against the wall, exhausted. He looks up but doesn't see Tails in front of him.

"What the..?" Espio exclaims, with a very surprised look on his face

"Ah, I think you forgot Tails back there.."

Celia looks down at Espio, then at the rest of the crew. Espio realizes he grabbed the wrong arm and completely left Tails in the building. Cream looks around for the fox, but only sees Celia. The rabbit's expression goes from tired to angry in a second and she charges at the ferret. Espio is quick to his feet and stops Cream from getting her hands on Celia, and the ferret backs up from the two. Manic's gang looks on, just as shocked as Espio and Manic laughs uncontrollably in his spot. Cream yells at Celia but Espio keeps her back while the ferret stands still.

"YOU LITTLE, ARGH! I'M GONNA RIP TO APART! STEAL MY BOYFRIEND?! HOW DARE YOU?!" Cream shouts angrily

Manic keeps laughing "Oh, this is good! You grabbed the wrong fur ball, and your buddy is still in there! Ahaha!"

"THIS ISN'T FUNNY, SHUT THE HELL UP!" Cream shouts to Manic

"No, it is! Oh my god, that's hilarious!" Manic talks in between laughing

"Yeah? I hope you think it's funny, cause your still helping us, punk" Espio says as he holds Cream back

"No, I already repaid the favor, so screw you!" Manic yells back

"Deal was you help us get the fox back, not her" Espio say

Celia covers her ears from all the yelling and shouting, and rests against the wall. She passes out for not having much sleep these past few nights, and Cream finally calms down and walks away. Espio and Manic talk out their deal while the rabbit goes for a walk around the city to clear her mind.

"..Fine, we'll help you get him back, but if you fuck this up again, we're out.." Manic says

"Deal" Espio responds

Fire trucks and police liter the streets in twenty minutes, and Cream comes back. Espio checks Celia for a pulse, thinking she may have died. Cream sits on the ground and closes her eyes.

"We could've gone back in and got him out.." Cream says silently

"How do you know?" Manic asks

"I just saw them all take off, and he was with them, all chained up and bleeding"

"Why didn't you stop em'?"

"Just me go up against 20 of them, that's a great idea.." The rabbit replies sarcastically

"Well shit, I was just asking.." Manic lights another smoke

"Well, if we weren't all screaming in each others faces we could've.." The chameleon stands up "This chick is out like a light. What do you want to do with her? Leave her here?" Espio asks

"She might know where they took your friend" Stella says

"I don't care what you do with that trash, just keep her away from me.." Cream says

"I say keep her, she could be useful, and besides, she's kinda cute, hehe" Manic says

"If you find THAT cute, then you have bad taste in women, Manic.." Cream replies

"Hey, I'll take anything, I'm desperate. I'm a lonely guy when it comes to girls and that hear to heart, feelings stuff. So, don't judge. If I'm correct, you're dating a small, nerdy fox so if I were you I'd keep quiet" Manic snaps back

"Alright, hey, shut up, shut up.. both of you, I've got a massive headache and I don't need you making it worse. Take her, she'll know something about Miles so just.. make her talk. I've got to go" Espio stands up and leaves the alley.

Manic and Cream look away from each other, and stare at the sleeping ferret on the ground while the rest of Manic's crew begin to fall asleep on the ground. Cream notices it and is a bit disgusted.

"You just let them sleep on the street like this?" Cream asks

"Anywhere is a good place to sleep, as long as it's away from the rain or snow.." Manic replies

"Some role model you are.."

"Just cause you're used to living life like a super hero, doesn't give you any right to judge kids who aren't like you. I bet you've never had to stab someone in the back who you actually love, just so you can live. They can't say the same, and I'm all they have left, the only guy who gives a damn about them. So you can judge me all you want, but I'll be damn if I let you judge these kids and just stand by.." Manic takes another drag of his cigarette.

Cream starts to feel sympathetic to Manic and his friends, and at the same time guilty for thinking of them like she did. Manic takes off his large winter jacket and uses it as a pillow for all six of his friends to lay on. The green hedgehog shivers as all he wears is his black punk rock vest and the wind picks up. Cream notices his whole left arm is tattooed with mostly words and some pictures. Manic keeps smoking his cigarette and stands away from the kids while he smokes.

After he finishes his cigarette, he stomps it out and pulls out his cigarette bag. He walks over to his friend Josh and sticks a few cigarettes in his coat pocket. Manic looks over and sees Cream watching him.

"He's the only one I let smoke, just cause he's the oldest of them. figure I should give him a few.." Manic says, standing up

"Manic, I u, I'm sorry for what I said earlier. You're actually a really great role model, I mean, for them. sure you steal, but at least you don't just do it for only you. and that's good" Cream says

"Well, like I said, I'm all these kids really have left. Some are orphans, and others just don't 'have' parents. Same with me, my parents pretty much jumped ship on us so I didn't really have a father figure growing up.."

"Yeah, that would suck, just you and Sonic alone.."

"And my sister, Sonia. She's another story. So, basically I grew up traveling and stealing just to survive. Sonic split on us, and Sonia is a bit drunk with power so I decided to come here and do what I'm good at, then I found these guys. since then, I've looked after them and I'm gonna keep doing it until they can go out on their own" Manic sits beside Cream

The two lean against the wall and look at her each other, just trying to pass the time. Manic gets closer and closer to Cream, and finally he goes in for a kiss. Creams' eyes widen but eventually close and she embraces the kiss. They hold it for about a minute, then the rabbit pushes Manic away.

"What? Come on, no ones watching.. come on, there's nothing wrong" Manic says

"No, this is wrong. Tails would freak out.." Cream tries to stay away from Manic but he continues to get closer

"Do you think he was thinking that when he locked lips with what's her name over there? No, so really he cheated on you first"

"It's not cheating if he's not dating me.."

"There you go, you two aren't dating. Just come on, one more time then we can pretend this never happened and find Fox boy, alright?" Manic asks

"I don't know, I just have a bad feeling.."

Out of no where, Marcus walks into the alley way with his AK 47 and throws it next to Celia, then looks at Cream and Manic.

"Whoa, this is weird, uh.." Marcus says

"Shit, Marcus!" Cream stands up and runs to him "I thought you got stuck back there, where did you go?"

"Lets say Miles' response team, they're out of commission" Marcus looks over at Manic "What's up, pal?"

Manic stares at the ground and just waves to the raccoon.

"Yeah, you screw around with any of my friends, and it's on. Don't think I have bad ears, man. just a heads up" Marcus warns

"Got it, dude.." Manic replies

"Marcus, can we talk a little?" Cream leads the raccoon away from Manic and to a park.

The get to a small park and sit on two swings while they discuss what just happened.

"I thought you were pissed off Tails was running around on you? and walk up to you two locking it up?"

"I know, and I didn't mean to. He came on to me and kissed me. It was an accident, and.." Cream stops talking

"I won't say nothing, I aint a snitch. Just don't let that guy near you like that again, I can tell he's nothing but trouble"

"Alright, Marcus, I will. Thanks for not saying anything. From now on, lets just stick to getting Tails back"

Marcus looks back at the alley and doesn't see Tails "Wait, you guys didn't get Tails back?"

"Yeah, Espio grabbed HER on accident instead of Tails.."

"Well, what's going on then?" Marcus asks

"We're keeping her because she'll know something about where Miles is, and we need to find him fast" Cream replies

"Well, shit, why didn't you say so? Lets get to my place and talk to her, then"

"Wait, ALL of us? even, Manic?"

"Maybe not him, but the three of us for sure. We'll see how things go"

"Alright, Marcus"

"But hey, just promise me, you won't let anything like that happen again"

"It won't, I swear. Like I said, just an accident"

"Lets hope that's all it was. Now lets move"

11 pm, and Cream and Marcus decided to walk back to his house. After some thinking, Marcus decides to let Manic and his friends join them at the house, but on the condition they don't steal anything. The group starts to walk to Marcus' house, cutting through many back streets and through the same tunnel Marcus fought Manic at. The more they walk, the more tired everyone becomes. By 1 am, they make it to the house and get settled in. Cream takes Celia downstairs to the basement and sets her down in a chair, but at the same time uses rope to tie the ferret's hands above her head, to a thick wooden beam.

"Really?" Marcus asks

"Hey, you can't take a chance with her"

"She's a little girl, not a freakin' rabid hog.."

"Do you wanna be in her postion" Cream warns Marcus, who says nothing "I just don't want her clawing at me when I'm talking to her, that's all"

"Yeah, whatever you say.." Marcus laughs as he walks away

Cream picks up a cup of water and throws it in Celia's face "Wake up!"

The ferret is woken and spits out water then notices Cream sitting in front of her

"Oh, you must be Tails' girlfriend. My name is-"

"I don't care" Celia goes silent "I'll pretend I didn't see you kissing my boyfriend and we'll move on. You need to start explaining A LOT of things.."


End file.
